The Missing Dough(55)

“Nope. I take the full blame for it,” I admitted. “I made it up on the spot.”

“Well, it looks great. I don’t suppose there are any more back there, are there?”

“Why don’t I make us another batch?” I suggested.

“That sounds wonderful,” she said.



Everything was finally back in order, and I had started to unlock the front door when I saw Paul hurrying over to the pizzeria.

I opened the door and asked, “Is something wrong?”

“You need to get inside,” he said as he brushed past me and went into the pizzeria. Oh, no. Had something I served them made them sick? I’d hate myself if I ruined their lovely little meal together.

Once I was back in the Slice with Maddy, Paul looked at us both and grinned. “Boy, I never would have believed that it was possible, but you both got me out of the doghouse. That was nothing short of spectacular.”

“We’re glad you’re pleased,” I said.

“That doesn’t begin to describe it. Now, what do I owe you? I walked out of here on air, and I didn’t realize that I forgot to pay you until Gina reminded me a minute ago.”

“Thanks for offering, but this one was on the house,” I said as Maddy nodded her agreement to my offer.

Paul frowned. “Hang on a second. I never meant you to do all of this for nothing.”

“Don’t you think we know that, Paul?” I asked as I hugged him. “We meant every word we said. You’re like family to Maddy and me. We won’t take your money today.”

“Okay, but this means that I can bring you treats and confections whenever I feel like it, and you’re not allowed to ever say no.”

I thought for a split second about protesting when I envisioned what my waistline might end up looking like, but I knew that I had to be careful how I responded.

Fortunately, Maddy filled the silence. “Score,” she said to me. “I told you that my little plot would work, Eleanor. Free desserts. Wee!”

“She’s just teasing,” I told Paul.

“Or am I dead serious?” Maddy asked with a grin.

Paul just shook his head. “If we really were related, I couldn’t ask for a better pair of cooks to be kin to.”

“We know exactly what you mean,” I said. “Now, don’t you have a bakery to run?”

“I closed early so I could take Gina out to lunch. There’s not much inventory left, anyway, but you’re welcome to what I’ve got.”

“Raincheck?” I asked. “We’re about to open, so we won’t have time to enjoy it.”

“Okay, I’ll accept that for now, but I’m not giving up.”

“I certainly hope not,” Maddy said.

After he was gone, my sister looked at me and said, “We did good today, Eleanor.”

“We surely did,” I said, letting the warmth of good feeling flood through me.

It wasn’t very long-lived, though.

When I looked up, I saw Rebecca Whitmore storming toward the Slice, and I doubted that she was in such a rush because she was hungry.





Chapter 13

“I can’t believe how reckless you are,” Rebecca said the second she spotted Maddy. “Have you completely lost your mind? You’re not going to get away with this! Do you hear me?”

“What are you talking about?” my sister asked her. At least there was no one in the restaurant at the moment. I hated it when our personal lives gave our patrons dinner and a show, and it happened all too often for my taste.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Maddy. You know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s gone. All of it. Every last dime,” she said.

I thought about the nearly ten thousand dollars that Maddy and I had found in Grant’s desk drawer. Had she stumbled upon it herself and then lost it again already? “Slow down, take a deep breath, and think about what you’re saying. What exactly is it that’s gone, Rebecca?”

“Mother’s money, Grant’s money, all of it,” she said, the anger seething out of her like steam. “There’s nothing left. You weren’t satisfied with a third of Mother’s estate, so you made sure that you got all of it, and every bit of Grant’s money, too.”

“I don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about,” Maddy said. “Hang on a second. I suppose that’s not strictly true. We did just find out that your brother’s bank account was emptied out the day he died, but we have no idea what he did with it all, or where he even got it.” Maddy looked at me as she realized something. “Eleanor, that’s where the money must have come from. He emptied the cash out of his mother’s estate and put it in his personal account.”